Quote:
Originally Posted by glowrock
Of course a lot of the differences I've seen in Chicago might be tenement vs. non-tenement buildings in terms of their original purpose.
Aaron (Glowrock)
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Yep... despite the nostalgia that some preservationists like to spout, most working class people in pre-war Chicago did not live in large, gracious apartments. If you were middle class and had a decent income (i.e. not a factory job) perhaps you could afford a nicer, more spacious apartment in a courtyard building. The very wealthiest could afford units in Gold Coast highrises or other lakefront neighborhoods like South Shore or Lakeview.
Ergo, "prewar" apartments are not automatically superior to postwar apartments in Chicago... I personally liked living in my greystone walkup tenement with tiny bedrooms, but I could absolutely see many people preferring a 2BR in a 4+1 from the 60s, for example.